Looking for some enablement

This is my first post, looking for opinions on a couple of books I’m thinking of ordering:

Sophie’s World
1776

More care about content that illustrations etc. Have read a variety of online reviews but often really enjoy the insight of FSD members.

I picked up 1776 and found it to be interesting. I have spent most of my life just reading fiction, but since I’ve starting collecting books from Folio, I’ve expanded a bit into nonfiction and this is one of the titles that appealed to me. It was fascinating to see how victory was not assured and George Washington just got lucky in a few critical moments. It’s not exactly suspenseful since we know the outcome, but it certainly kept me reading to see how it all came to be. It gave me a better picture of what happened at that point in my country’s history and was worth reading. I also appreciated the excerpts and quotes from period documents—it was evident that the author had done his homework while also being able to incorporate the results into the book in a readable way.

>1 sbcr12: McCullough’s strength is his ability to tell a story and, as a result, all of his books are eminently readable. 1776 is no exception. As the title suggests, the book’s focus is on the year 1776 but includes some necessary background and, for obvious reasons, spills over into the early days of the next year. If you are looking for a good overview of the early days of the Revolutionary War that is an accessible read, this is an excellent choice and I don’t hesitate to recommend it. That said, McCullough gets some criticism for being a “popular” historian as opposed to an academic. If your tastes run more towards an academic history, Washington’s Crossing by David Hackett Fischer covers the same essential events in a more scholarly style. As for the Folio version, I don't own it so can't comment.

I own 1776 and enjoyed it but I'm not sure who it's meant to be aimed at. A focus on the military history of 1776 cuts out the early, foundational stages of the Revolutionary War. Without having a working knowledge of the subject I'd have felt a little bit lost -- it was almost like it was meant to be a volume in a longer work.

Sophie's World is a correspondence between a young girl, Sophie*, and a mysterious philosopher. Through their letters one goes through the evolution of philosophical thinking and gets to know the prominent philosophers (of the Western world that is, if I remember correctly).

It's a very enjoyable read and offers an easy entry into the history of philosophy - unlike "History of Western Philosophy", also available by FS, which is scholastic and a book best not attempted in early endeavors.

I highly recommend it for young readers and adults alike - I don't think you can wrong with it.

* Sophie's name is a pun, derives from the greek name Sofia (Σοφία = Wisdom).

>1 sbcr12: Agree with >5 bacchus.:. I enjoyed Sophie's World. I have also read History of Philosophy by Russell and I found it very readable, though it is long and serious due to the matter it deals with.

A bit OT, but Nick Bunker's An Empire on the Edge was a fascinating and fairly detailed history of the run-up to the revolutionary war and might therefore be a good companion to 1776.